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Defense Dominates as Penn Beats St. Joseph's

from press release

PHILADELPHIA – Although it has won all 10
meetings in this series, the University of Pennsylvania men’s
lacrosse team has had trouble with its city rival Saint
Joseph’s the last few years. Of particular note, the Hawks
stuck around all the way until the finish last year at Franklin
Field before the host Quakers could breathe a sigh of relief after
a one-goal victory.

On Tuesday night, again at Franklin Field, Penn and Saint
Joseph’s looked like they might engage in another battle
royale. That is, until the second quarter when the 20th-ranked
Quakers flexed their muscles.

After allowing three goals in the first quarter -- all of them to
Ryan McGee -- Penn’s defense absolutely shut down the Hawks,
holding them scoreless for 37:33 of game time before finally
allowing one final goal on the night.

At the other end, the momentum was more gradual but it was
sustaining. Penn scored three times in the first two periods, then
four times in the last two, and had 12 different players tickle the
twine on the night.

It all added up to a solid, 14-4 decision.

Penn is now 1-1 on the young season, while Saint Joseph’s
fell to 1-2.

It took Penn all of six seconds to open the scoring on its home
field this season, as Danny Feeney cleanly won the opening faceoff
and went down to score unassisted. For the game, the Quakers were
15-of-22 on the faceoffs, as Feeney was aided on the X by Joe
McCallion and Austin Kreinz.

McGee got that goal back for SJU less than two minutes later, but
one minute after that McCallion scored unassisted to make it 2-1.
McGee again tied things, this time a mere 24 seconds later off a
Mike Dougherty feed, and then things settled down before Chris
Moriarty finished a Zack Losco feed with 4:42 left in the first
quarter.

McGee’s third goal of the game came with 1:11 left in the
period, and made things level entering the second quarter.

It took Penn 19 seconds in the period to gain a lead it
wouldn’t relinquish, Pat Berkery finishing a feed from Isaac
Bock. Two minutes later, Bock got on the board and he netted a pass
from Nick Doktor, and then midway through the period Drew Belinsky
made it 6-3 with an unassisted goal.

The next goal didn’t come until nearly five minutes were gone
in the third quarter, but it was Doktor who ended the drought off a
feed from Chris Hupfeldt. Bock scored his second shortly after
that, off a Losco feed, and then Kevin Brown (unassisted) and
long-stick middie Alex Blonsky (off a McCallion feed) scored just
nine seconds apart. The third period ended with the Quakers ahead
10-3.

Penn scored two within a 32-second span near the start of the
fourth, McCallion and then Losco going unassisted, before Dougherty
finally ended SJU’s scoring skid with 7:38 left in the game
(McGee assisting). Penn’s reserves got their chance late and
made the most of it, Jeff Sestilio and Will Laco scoring in the
game’s final 1:08.

Brian Feeney had a performance similar to Saturday at Duke; after
making just one save and allowing the three first-period goals, he
had eight stops the rest of the way and allowed just the one goal.
At the other end, Dustin Keen had five saves in the first quarter
before the Quakers figured him out. He eventually gave way to T.J.
Jones.

Penn is home again on Saturday, hosting No. 6 Denver at 1 p.m. at
Franklin Field.